


Sick Day

by NeoSilver



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Random & Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7535365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoSilver/pseuds/NeoSilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because things just can't go right for Jasper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Day

It was a wet, stormy Beach City afternoon when the door of the house slammed open.

"Crystal Gems, I've come to...finish...this?" Jasper's initial roar tapered off into confusion. The house was empty, lights off, the only noise was the storm.

Well, not quite. There was a light from under one of the doors, and a soft, pained moaning. Jasper allowed her scowl to shift to befuddlement for a moment, then lock back into her usual grumpy expression.

The light clicked off, the door opened, and one Steven Universe shuffled out, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and his usual sunny expression dampened.

"You!" Jasper snapped.

Steven looked at her, squeaked in surprise. Before he could move, Jasper's hand had shot out and gotten a firm grip.

"Where are they?" she growled.

"Well, you see-"  
\-----

"Are you sure about this?" Amethyst whined tiredly.

"Renaldo's blog has four images. Jasper was here." Pearl's statement was matter-of-fact in tone. "Several times."

"So we wait," Garnet finished. 

"I'm still not comfortable leaving Steven home alone," Pearl said after a moment.

"He's in no condition to be here," Garnet added.  
\-----

"You're what?" Jasper asked in confusion.

"Sick. It's something humans get sometimes," the young boy explained. "It's our bodies dealing with something that's not normal."

"But...you're a gem..." Jasper stammered, letting Steven go.

"Half gem," Steven corrected. Then he made noises, grabbed a waste disposal bin, held it below his head, and began making noises and finally ejecting what Jasper suddenly realized were the contents of his digestive system.

Jasper had, to this point, been considering giving herself a digestive system to better blend in. Steven's antics made her reverse that course.

When he finished, Steven whimpered, shuffled out the other entrance, did something to dispose of the waste unit, and shuffled back in.

"Um."

Jasper was at a loss for words. And actions; she'd expected to go down fighting against the Crystal Gems. It had been the only thing she'd had on her mind since she'd gotten out of the crevasse she'd fallen into when she'd been separated from her fusion with Lapis. She certainly had not expected to be confronted by one sick half-gem kid home alone.

As her mind reeled to process her situation, Steven had shuffled to the couch and flopped over with a groan. Jasper's mind finally settled on "Go look elsewhere", and she turned to leave. "Hate this," Steven murmured.

"Huh?" Jasper asked.

"Hate being sick." Steven said.

Jasper wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Wish I had some company," Steven muttered.

Jasper stood, not moving. Well, the gems would be back for him eventually, right?  
\-----

She grimaced. Jasper was beginning to regret this plan.

Steven hadn't thrown up again, thankfully. The first time had been more than enough. He was, however, curled up on the couch whimpering. It was starting to grate on Jasper's less-than-considerable patience.

"What's wrong now?" she asked after nearly another minute of Steven's pained whimpering.

"Stomach hurts," Steven replied miserably.

"After that little demonstration, I'm not surprised," Jasper muttered.

"Could- could you get me some soda?" Steven asked plaintively. Jasper's jaw worked, her mind whirring again.

"Soda?" she asked.

"Green bottle in the fridge? There's glasses in the dish rack."

Jasper glanced at Steven, who was still fixated on the TV. He'd barely moved. With a sigh, she heaved herself to her feet, tromped over. She rapidly figured out out what the fridge was, found the bottle. She dug a small glass out of the rack, filled it. She looked at it for a long moment. Then, slowly, she dug a second glass out, poured herself some of the soda.

"Good a time as any," she muttered, calmly shape-shifting herself to be just a bit more human. She took a sip. It wasn't bad, sweet, yet burned on the way down. She glanced at the label. "Ginger ale?" she asked nobody in particular. She glanced at Steven, shrugged, and took his glass to him.

"Thank you," he said, taking it from Jasper's hand gingerly. For a moment, the large gem was struck by just how small Steven was, and how weak being sick seemed to have made him. His usual vitality made him seem so much larger, somehow. Jasper shook the morose thoughts off and sat down, positioning herself in front of the couch so she wasn't blocking Steven's view.

It had been hours now, and Jasper found herself asking when the Crystal Gems were going to get back. It wasn't that she wasn't enjoying being fairly warm (her choice of hiding place wasn't exactly well-insulated), but a sick Steven was wearing her down.  
\-----

The two minds that made up Garnet were finding themselves wondering about buying a sign. One of the ones that said "The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves." The grumbling generated by Pearl and Amethyst seemed to be indicating that it might be necessary. What surprised them was that the suggestion had come from the normally peaceable Sapphire.

Both gems did have to acknowledge that there was a valid point. Waiting for Jasper didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"Fine!" Garnet said, exasperation creeping into her tone. She glanced up. "Listen, we'll go back home when-"  
\-----

Jasper was done with the whole situation, when the Gems (including, she noted, a somewhat fearful Peridot and a furious-looking Lapis) came in two hours later. Stances initially tensed for a fight relaxed slightly in confusion at the sight before them.

"Would you mind getting him off my head?" Jasper asked in a monotone, finger pointing at Steven. Steven who, in his rest, had curled into her hair and refused to let go. "He's being clingy, and I really don't like it."

Any pretense of a fight was well and dead at this point. Even Peridot and Lapis had started looking extremely confused. For a moment, nobody moved. Finally, Pearl moved, carefully untangling Steven from Jasper's head and hair.

Jasper got to her feet. She strode to Garnet, Lapis, and Peridot who stood near the door. "I gave him some of that soup stuff. He hasn't treated me to his digestive system running in reverse again, so I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. He's your problem now. I'm going back to my hole in the ground."

The three gems parted as Jasper strode through them. Nobody said anything. Jasper paused a moment, looked at Lapis.

"Lapis." 

The blue gem glared at Jasper. 

"Take care of him."

There was no sound from the Crystal Gems and their two allies as Jasper departed. Just the sound of the rain picking up again.

"What was that about?" Pearl finally asked after a moment.

Nobody answered. Nobody knew.

**Author's Note:**

> And this is likely horribly, *horribly* out of character because I'm still fairly new to the show and don't have a great grasp on the characters yet. Apologies for that. The idea got stuck in my head and I just had to get it out.


End file.
